Microsoft's internal documents recognize that adding games to Game Pass would lead to cannibalization of Buy-To-Play sales

Yo this is so much worse than I thought. I nean I'm not surprised. Everyone knows that was the case. But the fact xbox did this to itself
 
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ChorizoPicozo said:
pretty obvious that Game Pass was a desperate move.
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Yeah unfortunately Halo wasn't the same without Bungie and not a good launch for Xbox One.
They werent selling Halo 3 numbers anymore, so Subsciption sounded good on paper. While Nintendo and Playstation were selling 10+ million for 1st party games. Nintendo even more at times

I wonder what the board thought of it back then compared to now?
 
Ah, I remember the good old days when we dared to question this only to get showered with the latest corporate slave talking points brought to you by Phil or someone else at Xbox with useless % stats that lead to no where.
 
Kokoloko85 said:
Anyone that thought any different was either lying or dumb
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iu
 
Surprised Phil hasn't worn a "Gamepass?" t shirt .

Frankly I don't like the way this service is front and centre of the brand these days. It's like the dominant discussion. A subscription service. At this rate you might as well remove Xbox as a brand name and just use "Gamepass " as the focal point as it's more or less that way anyway.

I get it, it can be great value particularly for those on a tight budget, to see dominate the narrative tho I just find jarring.

Just look at the real lack of marketing these days for Series X. It's all Series S because at its core, it's the gamepass system .
 
Who would have thought that the most obvious conclusion was right?

There is a reason why sony wants no business in releasing their first party games day one on PS+
 
DeepEnigma said:
Which is not good for the industry and what many of us have said when we used the phrase, "race to the bottom."

They are trying to loss-lead the industry in a war of attrition so they're the only ones who can afford to stand on top by the backing of their parent company.
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This need to be emphasized more. MS is ready to loss lead for years to choke the competition out of business. And then fuck us all in the ass without lube (gamers and devs alike).

If they manage to buy Activision and get CoD on their service, they will gain a measurable hold on to normies who previously bought their annual editions of CoD. And once those have been captured, god have mercy on our fucking souls and the whole industry's.
 
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Heisenberg007 said:
Interesting quote from Phil Spencer:
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It was true at the time, but what we're seeing now is the long-term effects of having "All first parties on Game Pass": people are now being smart with their money. It's, ultimately, what Xbox has incentivised us to do.

Anecdotally, when I first got Game Pass, I played Sniper Elite for the first time with Sniper Elite 4. Absolutely loved it, so I bought the entire franchise, including the 4, which just so happened to be having a massive DLC sale at the time. When Sniper Elite 5 launched on Game Pass last year, I knew the DLC model the franchise employs, so, I played through the game on Game Pass and didn't buy it. I'll buy it later when it's on sale and get all the DLC at that time and play through it again. If that's the model they're aiming for, cool, they're on track. But, if they're hoping that people like me will buy games off Game Pass at launch because we liked them, rather than waiting further down the line for deeper discounts, Spencer and co have seriously misunderstood the behaviour their service is incentivising.

When Starfield launches, I expect it to be the lowest selling Bethesda game since Morrowind.
 
This was obvious to most of us with a brain who isn't a fanboy. Funny seeing all the people who would say "No Phil and others have clearly said Game Pass increases game sales" now shift their goal posts and say "well that quote is from years ago of course it isn't true anymore." If you would've said 2 days ago that Game Pass hurts sales those people would've attacked you and said you're wrong. So glad the truth has been exposed so those idiots will finally shut up
 
Mercenary09 said:
This was obvious to most of us with a brain who isn't a fanboy. Funny seeing all the people who would say "No Phil and others have clearly said Game Pass increases game sales" now shift their goal posts and say "well that quote is from years ago of course it isn't true anymore." If you would've said 2 days ago that Game Pass hurts sales those people would've attacked you and said you're wrong. So glad the truth has been exposed so those idiots will finally shut up
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They want to desperately believe Gamepass can exist in it's current pricing (buy gold and convert for $1). That's why some people are desperate to believe the economics of today make sense. Don't blame them, I would love for Gamepass to keep it's current pricing. It's fantastic.
 
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JLB said:
Yes, I guess is the same to loss 0.5% of game sales of a platform with a potential three times smaller userbase.
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Or it could be 30%, you don't know.

The fact remains, it does not lead to increased sales and they knew this internally from the get-go. So they PR'ed bullshit.
 
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ResilientBanana said:
Must be a fanboy? Frankly, I hope Microsoft kicks it into high gear and starts cranking out good content. Sony getting comfortable is troublesome as they tend to get cocky.
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Look here, there is one very small reason to buy an xbox game at this point. Collectors maybe. Gamepass ultimate can be had for a dollar with new accounts. And then you just share that gamepass with all your accounts. I for one believe Microsoft is in a terrible spot going forward.
 
The real question is if these services lead to a decline in sales broadly, and not just for games on their service. Because that was the Netflix Effect, and it's why streaming won the war for digital movies/tv.

If people embrace subscription services for gaming, they're going to be in a great pole position to lead. But if they're just using it to get MS games cheaper then it might not be good business.

I bought an Xbox for the wife and kid a few months ago, and it's been more or less the only thing they've played since (despite us owning all the systems), and I don't think they've actually bought a single game for it.
 
Crispy Gamer said:
More concerning was "journalists" spreading those talking points it never made any sense to me I remember being on the other site at the time just thinking it was total bs but most people bought it shrugs...
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This is what is looks like when "journalists" are paid to say something about a company they are covering.
 
It's about time people come to the realization that spencer only has the following he does because he says things that fanboys want to hear.
It's the definition of a cult of personality.
Backwards compatibility and gamepass weren't done to benefit the consumer, they were done because xbox desperately needed positive bullet points to try to sell more xbox's. Same reason they went through the phase a few years ago where they wouldn't shut up about teraflops. The fans wanted to hear that talk.
He's not your buddy, he doesn't come over and grill and watch football with you on Sunday's, or go bowling in your league Wednesday nights, he isn't going to be at your wedding.
He's an executive who will do/say anything to make his company look better and make more money. Period.
 
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mckmas8808 said:
This is what is looks like when "journalists" are paid to say something about a company they are covering.
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Are you saying that professional game bloggers inserting "GamePass really is the Best Deal in Gaming" in any article that could relate to it even by just a long long stretch was not genuine?!?

Shocked Patrick Stewart GIF
 
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this explains why certain publishers were reluctant to put games on gamepass.

It all depends how many copies of physical/digital they can sell vs the gamepass money
 
JLB said:
Why is a desperate move, again?
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The competition was (still is) running circles around them in the market and they needed a positive bullet point for xbox.
That's also why you've been able to get years of gamepass for a dollar for years now.
It's as simple as that.
 
People making out like a bandit with those cheap $1 GP deals when a big game releases on their platform.

MS: Pikachu face when game sales and revenue isn't growing as much as they would like to...
 
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Baki said:
Yup. Eventually MS is going to increase the price of GP and at some point it won't be the "best deal" in gaming, but you'll be too locked in to make a choice.

I can see GP going for $30/month at some point. $20 is certainly on the horizon within the next 2-3 years.
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Wait for GP exclusives…
 
Raonak said:
Who would have thought that the most obvious conclusion was right?

There is a reason why sony wants no business in releasing their first party games day one on PS+
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And remember those video game bloggers and podcasters were saying Sony NEEDED to copy Microsoft and come up with its own version of Gamepass where every 1st party game is on it day and date. What a stupid time we live in.
 
ShadowkillXNA said:
It's about time people come to the realization that spencer only has the following he does because he says things that fanboys want to hear.
It's the definition of a cult of personality.
Backwards compatibility and gamepass weren't done to benefit the consumer, they were done because xbox desperately needed positive bullet points to try to sell more xbox's. Same reason they went through the phase a few years where they wouldn't shut up about teraflops. The fans wanted to hear that talk.
He's not your buddy, he doesn't come over and grill and watch football with you on Sunday's, or go bowling in your league Wednesday nights, he isn't going to be at your wedding.
He's an executive who will do/say anything to make his company look better and make more money. Period.
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GP was a pitch for MS CEO to convince him that they could build the next Netflix. Otherwise Nadella wouldn't have sanctioned spending $70B to help Phil buy marketshare.
 
Baki said:
GP was a pitch for MS CEO to convince him that they could build the next Netflix. Otherwise Nadella wouldn't have sanctioned spending $70B to help Phil buy marketshare.re
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And the reason for that because they desperately needed a positive selling point for xbox consoles, because they were getting lapped by the competition.
Nothing you posted changes that.
 
Most game sales drop off in less the 12 months after release. Its partially why they invested heavily in rpg games. They have the longest shelf life out side of GTA or gaas games
 
I'm not a shareholder in MS so I couldn't give a shit how much money they make or don't make on their division. Game Pass is a good deal as far as I'm concerned.
 
Look at it this way. Do you think halo would still be selling like hotcakes if it wasnt on gamepass? People on gaf tend not to look at ms without emotion involved. They wouldn't have launched game pass if it couldn't be profitable. Period. It has a clear business case. Games dont always sell at full price 12 months after launch. We are not talking about GTA or something like that.

It may be a moot point if most games sales typically dwindle after the first 4 months.
 
oldergamer said:
Look at it this way. Do you think halo would still be selling like hotcakes if it wasnt on gamepass? People on gaf tend not to look at ms without emotion involved. They wouldn't have launched game pass if it couldn't be profitable. Period. It has a clear business case. Games dont always sell at full price 12 months after launch. We are not talking about GTA or something like that.

It may be a moot point if most games sales typically dwindle after the first 4 months.
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People on GAF love shitting on MS. I think it's weird how emotionally invested people are in these plastic boxes but we all need hobbies. But also Phil Spencer says a lot of stuff and that opens him up to getting dunked on, so yeah a lot of people might be fanboys but the concerns levied aren't exactly without merit.
 
lh032 said:
this explains why certain publishers were reluctant to put games on gamepass.

It all depends how many copies of physical/digital they can sell vs the gamepass money
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Physical sales arent the end all for many games. EA for instance makes more money off in app purchases on sports games then they do selling the physical game
 
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